Hitman: Absolution

Being a huge fan of the series, I eagerly awaited my pre-order copy.

This game has obviously been developed by people who haven't worked on the previous hitman games.

There are 3 major problems with this game:

- No save function.
You cannot save your progress at any point in the game, instead you are given "checkpoints". If you manage to find these elusive checkpoints you can save... but it only saves your position on the map, not your progress. i.e enemies you've killed will respawn, explosives you've placed are removed, food you've poisoned becomes clean etc.

- Disguises.
If you've played the hitman games before you'll know disguises play a huge part in the game. However this system to successfully use a disguise you need to use "instinct" to hide your face from the enemy. When you do this your instinct depletes. No instinct means your disguise is blown in a matter of seconds. To regenerate your instinct you have to headshot or stealth kill enemies. So a purely stealthy mission is essentially impossible. So a huge let down to fans of the series.

- The missions.
Hitman has suddenly grown a heart and decides to spend the entire game rescuing a girl. Problem with this is that the whole game revolves around the story and most missions are not even assassinations! There are few assassination missions in the game. There is a "contracts" side to the game, but to access this you need to purchase a "contracts pass" from Xbox Live. Another problem is the missions are split into sections. Once you pass a section you cannot go back. Unlike blood money where the missions are one huge level and you can explore as you please... these missions are linear and split into stages. One assassination mission might take 3 stages i.e "Find top floor" - "Talk to person X" - "Assassinate person Y" with each stage essentially being a completely separate level.

Overall... it's an OK game if you like third person shooters. This is not a stealth Hitman game. Nothing like the previous games a lot more like Splinter Cell without the stealth.

Disappointment

Having only played one previous Hitman game I'm not really in a position to make many comparisons with earlier entries in the series but, judged on its own merits, I found Absolution to be thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

The plot basically revolves around Agent 47's attempts to try to keep a young girl out of the hands of the agency and other nefarious characters. As video games go it's fairly well told but it only really serves to provide some sort of link between each of the twenty or so missions. Reading reviews and forums I've been lead to believe that Absolution is more action orientated than its predecessors but, having played through on a couple of difficulty settings, I can categorically confirm that it is far from just being 'another third person shooter' as some want you to believe. Admittedly it is possible to shoot your way through many of the levels on the easier settings (the AI of the enemies when they come under fire isn't great and they'll often stand out in the open) but it is far more satisfying, and you are awarded a better score, if you can complete your objective without being spotted and Absolution provides plenty of alternative ways to eliminate your target. For those after a so called 'pure' Hitman experience the hardest settings make it all but impossible to just run and gun allowing anyone to tailor the game to their specific requirements.

Perhaps the most controversial new features is 'instinct mode' which allows you to see through walls and predict enemy paths for example. For me this is a great addition as it prevents the long periods of waiting behind cover watching enemy patterns found in many stealth orientated games. The amount of uses is limited depending on the difficulty setting so again anyone after a more traditional stealth game only need play on one of the higher settings.

One area in which Absolution did disappoint is that, in trying to be more cinematic; a few of the assassination and other important events take place in cut scenes. This is particularly frustrating when you've made your way through a level undetected only to have control taken away from you just in time to see Agent 47 be ambushed and knocked unconscious.

All in all this is a largely successful reboot and I can only hope we don't have to wait another six years before we see Agent 47 again as Hitman Absolution proves there is plenty of life left in him yet.

Having only played one previous Hitman game I'm not really in a position to make many comparisons with earlier entries in the series but, judged on its own merits, I found Absolution to be thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

The plot basically revolves around Agent 47's attempts to try to keep a young girl out of the hands of the agency and other nefarious characters. As video games go it's fairly well told but it only really serves to provide some sort of link between each of the twenty or so missions. Reading reviews and forums I've been lead to believe that Absolution is more action orientated than its predecessors but, having played through on a couple of difficulty settings, I can categorically confirm that it is far from just being 'another third person shooter' as some want you to believe. Admittedly it is possible to shoot your way through many of the levels on the easier settings (the AI of the enemies when they come under fire isn't great and they'll often stand out in the open) but it is far more satisfying, and you are awarded a better score, if you can complete your objective without being spotted and Absolution provides plenty of alternative ways to eliminate your target. For those after a so called 'pure' Hitman experience the hardest settings make it all but impossible to just run and gun allowing anyone to tailor the game to their specific requirements.

Perhaps the most controversial new features is 'instinct mode' which allows you to see through walls and predict enemy paths for example. For me this is a great addition as it prevents the long periods of waiting behind cover watching enemy patterns found in many stealth orientated games. The amount of uses is limited depending on the difficulty setting so again anyone after a more traditional stealth game only need play on one of the higher settings.

One area in which Absolution did disappoint is that, in trying to be more cinematic; a few of the assassination and other important events take place in cut scenes. This is particularly frustrating when you've made your way through a level undetected only to have control taken away from you just in time to see Agent 47 be ambushed and knocked unconscious.

All in all this is a largely successful reboot and I can only hope we don't have to wait another six years before we see Agent 47 again as Hitman Absolution proves there is plenty of life left in him yet.

Well I played my way through the tutorial and hated "instinct" immediately, but thought it would be okay. It is... until you run out, then your disguises just don't work.

There are no single hit missions like all previous games and the levels are in sections.

One mission saw me awkwardly fidget my way past guards, only for me to get to the target then.... cut scene.... target escapes, only for me to awkwardly pick my way through policeman after policeman through a linear level.

I'm still doing it and it is just boring. I think i'll just shoot my way through every level, cos sneaking is pointless.

I just can't fault this game, this game immerses you in the single player mode and the games new online mode 'Contracts' is soooo good... Very addictive. Buy this game, you won't be sorry :)